As a result of de-regulation in the telecommunications industry, many telecommunications carriers compete with each other to provide telecommunications services, and particularly, intra-exchange and inter-exchange toll (long distance) calls. Some carriers provide an indication of their identity to the calling party during call set-up. For example, AT&T typically provides a "bong" tone as well as a message indicative of its identity to callers that selected AT&T by dialing its access code (10288), as well as callers that obtain AT&T service via a pay telephone. (Callers that have previously subscribed to AT&T as their default carrier for residential and business telephone lines currently do not receive such a message.)
Indicating the carrier identity to the calling party serves several purposes. First, the caller can confirm that his or her chosen carrier will carry the call. Secondly, identifying the carrier to the calling party enhances brand recognition of the carrier in the mind of the calling party, an especially important aspect in a competitive market place. In this way a carrier such as AT&T can differentiate itself from other carriers.
At the present time, the called party typically receives no information regarding the identity of the carrier that carried the call from the calling party, except in rare circumstances, such as a collect or third-number billed call. Traditionally, the lack of any information to the called party regarding the identity of the calling party proved inconsequential. However, as present day telecommunications service offerings become more sophisticated, affording both the calling and called party an opportunity to obtain and/or modify features during a call, a knowledge of the carrier can be important. In some instances, the opportunity of the called party to avail himself or herself of a particular feature depends whether that party has pre-subscribed to the carrier offering the feature. Unless apprised of the identity of the carrier, the called party will not know if a particular service is available. Moreover, from a marketing perspective, identifying the carrier to the called party increases brand awareness.
Thus, there is a need for a technique for providing a called party the identity of the carrier that carried the call.